Leigh Ann Hester (born 12 January 1982)
[2] is a United States Army National Guard soldier. While assigned to the 617th
Military Police Company,
[3] a
Kentucky Army National Guard unit out of
Richmond, Kentucky,
[3] Hester received the
Silver Star for her heroic actions on 20 March 2005 during an enemy ambush on a supply convoy near the town of
Salman Pak, Iraq.
[4]
Hester is the first female U.S. Army soldier to receive the Silver Star since
World War II and the first ever to be cited for valor in
close quarters combat.
[5]
Hester enlisted in the U.S. Army in April 2001.
In Iraq,
[3] Hester's military police squad consisting of eight men and two women in three
Humvees were shadowing a 30-truck supply convoy when approximately 50 insurgent fighters ambushed the convoy with
AK-47,
RPK machine gun fire, and
rocket propelled grenades (RPG). The squad moved to the side of the road, flanking the insurgents and cutting off their escape route. Hester maneuvered her fire team through the
kill zone and into a flanking position, where her squad leader, Staff Sergeant
Timothy F. Nein, and she assaulted a trench line with
hand grenades and
M203 grenade launcher rounds. Nein and Hester assaulted and cleared two trenches. During the 25-minute firefight, Hester killed 3 insurgents.
[6]
When the battle was over, 27 insurgents were dead, six were wounded, and one captured. Sergeants Nein and Hester were both awarded the
Silver Star.
[3][6] Nein's medal was later upgraded to the
Distinguished Service Cross.
[7]
Also awarded the Silver Star in this ambush was Specialist
Jason Mike, a platoon
medic who took up and simultaneously fired an
M4 carbine and
M249 SAW light machine gun in defense of his comrades.
[6]
Hester later transferred to the Tennessee Army National Guard.
[1]
Hester took a brief break from the U.S. Army in 2009, and worked as an officer for a civilian law enforcement agency in a
Nashville, Tennessee suburb. However, she returned to the military a short while later, in late 2010.
[3][8]